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May 8, 2010

Recently I wrote a two-part story on Examiner about a place here in Utah called Skinwalker Ranch. You can read the first part here and the second part here. The reported facts surrounding the story of Skinwalker Ranch is admittedly extremely bizarre. I was not able to find any conclusive evidence that the Ute Tribe has a directive for members to avoid the land due to some curse from the Navajos, so I did not focus too much on that aspect of the story. I also was not able to find any information about why the Navajos would place such a curse on another tribe.

Perhaps most strange to me is the involvement of scientists in the case, at the bidding of a billionaire who has great interest in space tourism and colonization. The more I dig into Skinwalker Ranch the more unbelievable the whole thing becomes. It is very rare indeed that anyone claims poltergeist activity, cryptid sightings, and extraterrestrial sightings all in the same area, especially in a short amount of time. So there are some who think the Chupacabra is an alien, but this is on a whole other plane...

What do I think of Skinwalker Ranch? Is it an elaborate hoax or is something else going on? A part of me always remains skeptical about paranormal events, not because I don't believe in them but because there are so many hoaxes out there. The ol' Bigfoot-in-the-freezer has been about the most enraging -- and stupid -- hoaxes of recent history. I know of websites that proudly declare things like 5,000 people in southern Belgium saw an alien craft land and aliens come out of it or other completely ridiculous things. Sadly, there are those who believe anything presented to them, and there are those who prey on that.

So did any of those reported events at Skinwalker Ranch actually happen? I have no idea, but the stuff seems almost too strange to have been made up. Still, a part of me remains healthfully skeptical.